Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not envy the Minister of State his task. Year after year, before he assumed office, there was a carry-over. That meant that one fought in the Estimates to get the money, but at the end of the year it was not spent. It is heartbreaking for any Minister worth his salt. It has been happening in the OPW. As the Minister of State said, we need to shorten the system and put more projects into it because there are always unforeseen delays. I hope the Minister of State will do that and will be single-minded in ensuring it happens.

I am very interested in what he said about local authorities not getting projects in fast enough. I welcome the idea of allowing them to do small projects on a developed basis up to €500,000. In a lot of the smaller areas that will do considerable work to alleviate this problem.

What steps has the Minister of State taken to try to put the skids under local authorities to get projects in that could save houses next winter? That would ensure that places vulnerable to coastal flooding will not be flooded again. It would also ensure that significant work could be undertaken.

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